Benedict Vidkun was a henpecked engineer working in the sewers on Coruscant in Imperial City.
Biography[]
Vidkun worked as an engineer at the Imperial Complex. Most of Vidkun's low salary was spent on expensive items by his younger wife. His two brothers-in-law were Lair and Daiv. He was a contact of Dash Rendar, who accompanied Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca to rescue Leia Organa from Prince Xizor. They paid for the information and the plans for the sewers that led to Xizor's Palace and hired him to open the grates and the zapping failsafe mechanism. For some reason they didn't trust Vidkun and did not allow him to call his wife before leaving, nor to hold a blaster in the sewers, fearing that he would turn them in.
Vidkun in the sewers of Coruscant
He led the band via the sewers until outside the Palace's recycling room. He left them a key and started to leave, but Lando insisted that he come along and wait for them.
After a brief argument, Vidkun pulled out his hidden blaster and shot Dash, whom he injured at the hip, but Dash shot him between the eyes immediately after.[1][2]
Personality and traits[]
Vidkun was a sickly, thin and pale[1] Human male with bulging brown eyes, a larger nose, a wispy beard and mustache, and sharp yellow teeth. He often cleared his throat.
In his married life he was tormented by his demanding wife.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Vidkun as depicted on the Shadows of the Empire trading card
The Shadows of the Empire novel, comic and sourcebook describe and show Vidkun as a thin and short goblin-like figure. The Topps Shadows of the Empire trading cards by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt depict Rendar shooting Vidkun. There, Vidkun, seen from the rear, appears as a normal medium-statured and well-built man.
Benedict Vidkun, identified as a traitor, shares his name with two notorious historical figures, whose names have become synonymous with traitor: Benedict Arnold, an officer of the American Revolutionary War who betrayed the Continental Army to the British, leading to his name evolving into an epithet for traitor in the United States;[3] and Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician whose collaboration with the Germans in their occupation of Norway during World War II established his last name as a synonym for "traitor" in several languages.[4]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire novel (First appearance, in book)
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire abridged audiobook
- Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire junior novelization
- Shadows of the Empire 6
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- ↑
1996 Topps Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Card: Dash Fires the Guide (backup link)
- ↑
Benedict Arnold on Encylopædia Britannica (October 24, 2024): "In 1780 he offered to surrender West Point to the British, and he led a British attack on New London, Connecticut, in 1781. His name became an epithet for traitor in the United States." (backup link archived on November 13, 2024)
- ↑
This Day in History: June 10: 1940: Norway surrenders to Germany on History: "Vidkun Quisling served as the Norwegian minister of defense from 1931 to 1933, and in 1934 he left the ruling party to establish the Nasjonal Samling, or National Unity Party, in imitation of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. Although Norway declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, Nazi Germany regarded the occupation of Norway a strategic and economic necessity. In the spring of 1940, Vidkun Quisling traveled to Berlin to meet with Nazi command and plan the German conquest of his country. On April 9, the combined German forces attacked without warning, and by June 10 Hitler had conquered Norway and driven all Allied forces from the country. Although Quisling was the head of the only political party permitted by the Nazis, opposition to him in Norway was so great that it was not until February 1942 that he was able to formally establish his puppet government in Oslo. Under the authority of his Nazi commissioner, Josef Terboven, Quisling set up a repressive regime that was merciless toward those who defied it. However, Norway's resistance movement soon became the most effective in all Nazi-occupied Europe, and Quisling's authority rapidly waned. After the German surrender in May 1945, Quisling was arrested, convicted of high treason, and shot. From his name comes the word quisling, meaning "traitor" in several languages." (backup link archived on March 28, 2023)
